Reverb for Bass

[soundsupport1]

I don´t use it myself (I have one in my Boss multieffects unit, but I´ve moved to a stompbox pedalboard rig).

But Victor Wooten uses one on Amazing Grace to make the harmonics really pop. I feel like that´s a useful and appropriate place for it on bass guitar.

Peace,
SoundSupport

 

[Daniel Piper]

Nice to see Mr Black getting mentioned. I've always been drawn to the voicing of the Bloodmoon more than the Supermoon or Supermoon Chrome, but haven't had a chance to play one yet.

Has anyone here used a Mr. Black Bloodmoon? Can it create long swelling pads?

LOVE ME SOME MR BLACK

I've had them all. The chrome is ny favourite, due to the extra functionality of the mix knob (can go 100% wet)

the blood moon is voiced darker, which didn't help on bass IME. It can do swells/pads for days.

 

[jbybj]

My Boss GT-1B multieffect has a decent digital reverb. Don't need much more than that.

What I do in my studio now - where I've become the bassist, my bassist is now the jazz chord whiz on guitar, and the lead guitarist is beginning to "get it" relative to playing jazz - is to simply turn on the PA and open up a couple mics across the room. I put the reverb on there, and that gives us a decent approximation of the old Columbia Records 30th street studio. I mean not really, but we can imagine it as such while we are playing. In any event, the real charm is that it puts us all in the exact same virtual room. So when I'm walking on a standard like So What, and there are chords going and a soloist going, it's got a decent hint of that jazz studio vibe that you hear on so many of those classic bebop and post-bop recordings.

Why not just go whole hog and rig yourself a Decca Tree? In the right room that will sound totally legit.

 

[coyote1]

Why not just go whole hog and rig yourself a Decca Tree? In the right room that will sound totally legit.

LOL! Sorry, but my basement won't quite support that.

But I just re-did it after dinner. As we've gotten into jazz, our volume has come down. For the moment anyway, the loud prog intensity and volume is replaced by a quiet intensity.

So I have an old powered mixer. I set it up so we are using only the two combo amps, the bass stack, and the powered mixer. The Crate combo (used in this context for guitar) and Hartke bass head have xlr out. So they each get a powered mixer channel. I put a mic on the fender amp, and that gets a channel. All those amps but the fender are running from one outlet, so I'm getting zero hum with the interconnections. The studio is super-quiet.

So the ROOM reverb setting on the powered mixer is now being fed directly by each instrument, and that is being played in a monitor that faces the drum set on the far wall. It takes that reverb signal, and bounces it off a far wall! It sounds great, about as close to a large room reverb as I can imagine in my basement without getting crazy with rack reverb. I can't wait to hear it when the three of us are playing this coming week.

 

[arepa_funk]

LOVE ME SOME MR BLACK

I've had them all. The chrome is ny favourite, due to the extra functionality of the mix knob (can go 100% wet)

the blood moon is voiced darker, which didn't help on bass IME. It can do swells/pads for days.

Thanks! That's awesome to hear. I think the bloodmoon can go fully wet too, at least according to description?

Great to here re chrome. Got to see if I can test both out to make a decision! (Also saw the larger version that has both algorithms but I want to save $$ and pedalboard space.)

 

[Matt Morgan]

Myself...I use a (now discontinued) TC electronics T2. It's got huge reverbs with modulation. It's not very subtle but I love it!

I love a little reverb thrown in as most have posted here; fretless, solo, ambient, textural, etc....

My newest reverb acquisition is the Neunaber Wet Version 5. After owning and trying tons of reverb pedals ranging from production to boutique, with all kinds of switches, profiles, knobs, features, etc., I wanted to simplify a bit.
The Neunaber is a super simple, absolutely gorgeous sounding reverb with two of the Neunaber algorithms installed that you can select via the knobs on the front; the classic Wet and the new W3T. The classic is a really nice "general purpose" reverb that has a little modulation and sounds fantastic. The new W3T is a bigger, deeper, lush, more modulated reverb that is hands down my favorite reverb that I've ever used/heard/experienced. The W3T has all those characteristics but the kicker is that it still sounds incredibly natural. It really is remarkable in my opinion. The audio quality of Neunaber products is pretty legendary and this unit is no exception. For me, it has been one of those inspirational pedals you run into every once in a while. Every time I kick it on, I find myself phrasing things a little differently, experimenting a little more, trying different inversions, etc. and I also look up and see that another 30-45 minutes has gone by.

I also own (and love!) the TC Electronics Trinity2 reverb. This is a more "special effects" reverb pedal and is not for the faint of heart! Massive, modulated, flanged, weird, textural, bordering on insane reverbs and the TC Electronic Toneprint capability as well. I love the T2 but I'm keeping it in reserve for those special occasions calling for something pretty dramatic!

The new Neunaber Wet V5 is on my board with the W3T algorithm selected.

Just my $.02 as usual.

 

[Mosfed]

I use an EQD Afterneath. Really underrated pedal for bass. It's an all-in-one ambient soundscape machine and does the Blade Runner thing really well with fuzz.

I wouldn't say that the Afterneath is underrated on bass so much as it's a comparably old pedal at this point and none of the revisions have really been that interesting.

that and the lack of a master volume is a real pity that makes it a challenging pedal to use live

 

[Phe]

I forgot to mention that I use reverb a lot when I play. I love the sound of spring reverb with a pick and some palm muting, 60's style.

 

[Stevorebob]

I've had the Iron Ether Nimbus, and it was great. Sold it because I rarely used it, and of course, then I missed having a reverb pedal. So, I picked up an Electro Harmonize Oceans 11 on the cheap, and it suffices for my needs. The reverb-type options and parameters on the Oceans 11 are nice, but I mostly stick to the plate reverb and one setting.

 

[Standalone]

With little kids in the house, I've been on the search for the holy grail of headphone rigs for the last 10 years. Even with hi-fi headphone amps and EQs, things always sounded a bit dry. Awhile back, I discovered that the Hall of Fame Reverb has a setting called "Ambiant" that injects just the right amount of air into a signal...as if you're standing in front of a big backline rig. Subtle, but works like magic. You don't realize how much it's doing until you turn the thing off. Though it can do way more than that, I bought my HOF on the the virtue of that one "ambiant" setting alone.

Lon

This is really useful suggestion. Reverb definitely helps me hear myself singing; playing guitar, and just creates that whole experience of hearing yourself a little better as it reflects the notes back to you. Headphone practice seems a perfect way to use this. Thanks for sharing the tip.

 

[Loring]

H9...

 

[DrakeWeiss]

Tech 21 RVB = Good reverb made in USA that can be totally analog. My reverb pedal is always on. I only use a touch... mix knob @ 9-10:00, feedback down 100%, tone 12:00, time down 100%, level 12:00, rumble down 100%. Those settings are what I practice and gig with, and that makes it analog... time modulation circuit is digital as far as I know... or at least it wasn't specified as analog in the pdf manual. Dialed in at minimum mix levels, the reverb gives my tone more fullness and 3-D depth, but it is barely noticeable. I've always gotten compliments on my tone & sound. Putting this pedal in the fx loop of an amp sounds great too, but the mix knob may need to be turned up to 12-1:00. I like to set it so when I play a note and stop, it sounds like the sound itself fell quickly into a cave. Too much reverb is usually horrible with fast paced music. Tech 21 RVB V1 sounds better than V2 which sucks some tone. V3 has been out for a while, but I haven't tried it. I'm happy with V1... it's black and gold and can be found under $100 on ebay and reverb every now and then.

 

[Andy V.]

Thanks! That's awesome to hear. I think the bloodmoon can go fully wet too, at least according to description?

Great to here re chrome. Got to see if I can test both out to make a decision! (Also saw the larger version that has both algorithms but I want to save $$ and pedalboard space.)

Got to play with the bloodmoon a bit earlier this week through a guitarist friend's board.
IMO, way darker than expected. I don't think it would gel well with my bass board. Awesome nonetheless!
Still love the Chrome

 

[WasabiChicken]

I've been looking at getting a reverb box for a while now. Not sure why since there's no live jams looming on the horizon yet, but... I guess I'm looking for something to toy with while noodling away at home.

In any case, two pedals are currently on my shortlist:

1. Strymon Bluesky. I've listened to a couple of youtube demos, and I like the versatility of it with three times three reverb types before knob tweaking. In particular, I dig the shimmer, but all of them sound interesting. Also a bonus that it seems possible to EQ/HPF the reverb tail, such that the lows don't end up too muddy.

2. H9...

   Agreed, but it's out of my budget, sadly. I noticed that Eventide recently released a cheaper, more specialized pedal though, packing only the H9 Blackhole algorithm and nothing else. I checked out Eventide's videos of it, it sounds lovely, and to boot it seems MIDI capable -- with any luck I could set it up with my Boss RC-10R looper/drum machine, and have it receive a MIDI clock from there. Also has EQ/HPF for the tail, but... the price point isn't attractive. I'd love to find a second hand demo ex or something, but it seems unlikely. Might just have to save up.

I'm keeping my eyes open for smaller/cheaper options too. In particular the Iron Ether Nimbus (again, the HPF..) is looking interesting, but it seems hard to find at a reasonable cost here in Europe.

 

[Loring]

Saw a black hole locally for 350 CAD - maybe 260 USD...

 

[TrevorG]

First pedal I bought for my bass was an Earthquake Devices Despatch Master. Not as complex and many of the suggestions here as I don't find any value in using reverb to alter the sound. It's just a VERY high quality reverb with a delay to enrich the sound. Great for chords and solo work.

 

[arbitrary]

the three I've found to work best, and still have, are the empress reverb, mantic proverb and onkel tube belton brick reverb. The empress is a bit larger and has way more than I need but its phenomenal. The onkel is a bit more subtle but the self oscillation switch is amazing. And the proverb has great modulation and oscillation switch as well, but has a bit of a volume drop with the mix lower than 75% wet. I keep the empress on my large ambient board and swap between the other 2 on my mini board.

 

[chiphaleonbass]

I've used both Walrus offerings, the Fathom and the Slö. Slö took over for the Fathom, use it for ambient swells on tunes and such. Works great; the sub octave reverb setting is a nice touch as is the ability to latch and sustain out a note. Fathom is great too if you're more interested in your standard type reverbs with modulation and sustain.

 

[arepa_funk]

Went with the Supermoon Chrome. It's fantastic and bright with passive bass and flats. Fed a pad via the EHX Freeze and modulated it with the Supermoon Chrome. That's a pad ++++! Thanks @Daniel Piper for the rec!!

Also experimented with percussive drones with periodic pitch shifts. Tried to get close to a sound like this .

My attempt attached. Way Huge Swollen Pickle into the SMC, no other effects used.

 

[AlvarHanso]

I have 3 reverb pedals on my board at the moment: the EHX Ocean's 11, Ocean's 12, and Source Audio Collider Delay+Reverb. The Ocean's 11 is $151 brand new, has 11 reverb types, with extra parameters for most of them, and is so good the upgrade did not kick it off my board for more than 2 months.

It also helps to note that reverb isn't great for bass in most "normal" bass applications. But in conjunction with other effects, reverb can really make the bass stand out instead of disappearing in those "normal" settings. Pair a big synth effect with some hall reverb can make for an enormous sound. I love Shimmer reverb to add harmonics to generate organ type sounds. The 11 ended up kicking the EHX B9 off my board because the Shimmer beat the Cathedral Organ that was my main use of the B9.

The Ocean's 12 is only surviving on my board because it's stereo, and the Tide Effect it does to move the sounds around. (It sloshes things so well, I got motion sickness listening through headphones one night testing it out.) It is nowhere near as user friendly to me as the 11. Another instance of the "upgrade" not matching the original. It could be my fault, I haven't learned it that well, and my presets don't seem stable somehow, which is funny because on the of the best things about the Ocean's 11 is that it holds the last settings you had for an effect if you switch to another effect. So if you go from Tremolo to Hall, when you return to Tremolo, your rate and amount stay the same as when you last engaged it, no matter if you tweaked that Hall, or even went through the other 10 effects before getting back to the Tremolo. It has really good sounds, I have yet to tame it, though. The 12 does not, in my opinion, go to 11.

The Collider is an awesome unit. I was a big fan of the Dimension Reverb also by Source Audio, so I jumped at this one. Also, I have wanted a Ventris since it came out, and most of my presets are dual reverbs, not delay and reverb, but went with the Collider ($349) as I figured it was right in between pricing of the Ventris ($399) and Nemesis ($299) and gives half of each pedal essentially. I love SA's tweakability, as daunting as it can be. All of the reverb and delay engines sound great and sound great together. Love the fact there's community presets available to me that save me time and effort and give me great sounds that may need a slight tweak in volume or something like pre-delay.

Had and really liked EHX Holy Grail, the 11 includes everything you'd get out of one plus a ton more. Loved the Strymon Big Sky the 90 minutes I got to play with one. Of course, that is nowhere near enough time to get acquainted with such a beast, but I definitely came away impressed with sounds, depth of features and presets via SD. Some cool new reverb ideas in there as well. There have been some killer reverb pedals released the last few years, now that I think about it...